2011 Road Trip Day 9 New York City

My alarm was set for 6:30 but the light lit up the bedroom before that and Pumpkin woke up at 6am. In my 1/2 asleep state Heath tricked me into climbing into Pumpkin’s tent with her. I could not stretch out, I had no pillow and very little padding and there was an adorable monster in there with me so my sleep was officially over. It took me a little while to realize it and then I played little tent games with Pumpkin for a few minutes before we left the tent to get close to my phone before it went off. We snuggled with mom a minute but Pumpkin was determined to eat so I got her set up with some rice crispees. Then everyone got up and we all started working on getting ready and packing our stuff. Heath and I put off breakfast and we actually made it out right on time. We walked a couple blocks down the street and found the train station. We paid $9.75 for Heath and I to get tickets and then waited about 5 minutes for our ride.

Durring this wait I realized I didn’t have the camera. The convent was probably a 3 minute jog but the train was due in 4 minutes so I could not get there and back. If I tried and was late we would have to postpone all plans by an hour. So we decided to make do with the cell phone. Shortly later we boarded the train and took our seats.

The train was really nice and double decker with comfy chairs through most of it but we sat off to the side of the good chairs so I could leave Pumpkin on my back and side sideways.

We had 11 stops and about 45 minutes and I was expecting Pumpkin to sleep but she did not. Eventually we ended up in Pen Station New York. From there we hopped on the subway and went 11 more stops but they were really quick and we ended up at the South Ferry station. We ran around a bit and eventually got tickets for the Statue ferry and got in line. Getting through security was a pain and they took my new for the trip $7 pocket knife and destroyed it for me. But at 10am we were on the top level of a 3 story ferry and on our way.

We could see the Statue from the Island but it was more exciting as we got close and took pictures from the boat.

It was a quick ride and in no time we were exiting onto the island. Heath headed strait to the bathroom and the rest of us headed strait to the NPS office to get ranger badge info then we got started on it.

Most of the ranger book questions could be done from the information center so we hung out in the ac and worked on it. This put Pumpkin to sleep. We got most done then headed out to walk around the statue. Tickets to the crown are sold out about 4 months in advance usually so we stayed at the bottom.

We walked all the way around and took several pictures.

Once back at the ferry Pumpkin and I got in line and Heath and Peanut got the ranger badge then joined us.

We rode over to Ellis Island but were too hungry to explore so stayed on the ferry back to Battery Point Park. We decided to walk a few blocks and see if we could find some authentic New York pizza. Well we probably passed 4 pizza places in the couple blocks we went and we think we picked the most authentic. The guy working the counter had pictures of himself working there around the place alongside his dad from when he was a teenager. I can’t remember his name but it sounded like a character from the Godfather. It was tempting to get a whole pie but we didn’t want to waste or lug around leftovers so Peanut got a slice of peperoni, Heath got a black olives slice and I got 2 of sausage. Vinny something got out 4 huge cheese slices, covered them in our toppings and then stuck them in the oven. My sausage was unlike any I had seen before and looked like brisket or something. Pumpkin got a backed zitti and worked over the noodles. We all shared some.

After lunch we headed outside and found some shaded benches and Heath changed Pumpkin and I fired up the camera phone.

Then we walked to a subway station and rode up to Times Square. This was really exciting and fun for all of us.

We joined the crowds wondering around and watching the billboards.

We went in a few shops and looked around and I was surprised at how big the insides were on many of them. It was pretty hot and I was getting pretty sweaty so we went to look for drinks and ice cream.

First we hit up a McDonald’s and got through the long line to find out the ice cream machine was broken. So we wondered on a bit and decided to hit up a TGIF. This was much better.

(Today I Learned: sponge bob is actually a Mexican guy that barely speaks English and just wants to trick kids so parents have to put money in his bag. See the evil in his eyes?)

I was able to get a giant beer Peanut was able to get a giant milk shake and the girls were able to get juice. We also got a plate of nachos to split and lots of water and bathroom breaks.

Our snack was more expensive then our lunch but we were glad we did it. Then we decided to walk back to pen station and check out more of the city.

Once at Pen station we got tickets then had a bit of a long wait for our train. Then we boarded and took the comfy seats and let Pumpkin out to play. We got hung up on the way behind some other train and it took a while but we eventually made it back to Summit. We came back to the room and relaxed and took off our shoes and I took a shower. Then our dinner showed up and we sat down to eat.

We had not complained or anything about the small dinner the night before but I guess eating everything gave them a hint we were big eaters so they unleashed on us. We had a huge salad, a big bowl of grapes, a whole keeshe, giant turkey sandwiches and ice cream cups with cookies. Ohh and a whole pitcher of really good tea.

We tried to eat as much as we could but after the late afternoon nachos and the exhaustion of the day we did not come close. We ate all we could then packed up some of the leftover for breakfast. Then Carri finished her dinner and came downstairs. We talked with her and told stories from our day. She had a custom made rosary for Peanut and a stuffed mouse for Pumpkin that both the kids liked.

We put the kids to bed and talked until the bell rang and Carri left for the night. Heath laid down in bed to watch tv but passed out really quick. I got all caught up on pictures and blogs and expect to hit the bathroom and then go to bed myself at about 10.